THE SOlENl'LSr. 
■2:5 
ill South Park, is quite extousivo and tlie 
coal seems to le about as good as that at 
Trinidad, but not so good as at Canon 
City.' 
[^peaking of the coal at CaLon City 
calls to mind an unusual geological 
phenomenon. It is possible to stand on 
the cap rock sandstone above the con! — 
possibly SO to 125 feet — and shoot a i-itle 
ball against the granite wall of a moun- 
tain that rises 4,000 feel above you. 
Such a phenomenon 1 observed about 
two miles southeast of Canon City. 
Now, this coal belongs geologically 
about 2200 feet above the granite, hence, 
here is a geological fault of G,200 feet in 
extent! Nature has dealt with Colo- 
]-ado on a grand scale. 
While at Canon City, let us look a 
little farther at the natural I'esoui-ces. 
At Florence, ten miles east, and extend- 
ing for miles, is tlie great oil field from 
which much of Kansas City's supply 
is obtained. Here are about 230 oil 
wells. Tanks and derricks are to be 
seen on every side. Some of the best 
wells yield from 200 to 300 barrels daily. 
]Much oil is used for fuel, yet the ship- 
ments of retined oils amount to from 
],oOO to 3,000 barrels per day. 
Within a radius of live miles arc at 
least 2,000 coal minei-s at work in the 
mines of Oak Creek, C ^al Creek, Wil- 
liamsburg, Brookside ai. 1 other small 
places. In this neighborhood are several 
deposits of the finest gypsum and, at 
least one, of marble — very much like 
Cararra. 1 have secured a sample fron) 
my brother for the Academy. This 
marble crops within a few hundred feet 
of the railroad. The finest limestones 
are abundant here. The convicts in tlie 
penitentiary at Canon City are prin- 
cipally employed in the manufacture of 
lime. Much lime is made at a place 
about six miles southeast of Buena Vista 
— on the east side of the Arkansas river. 
At this latter place, there are large 
depof-its of pure white calrite mud) used 
for making lime and also lai-geiy 
shipped to smelters to be used as a tlux 
in the treatment of ores. 
About ten miles from Leadville and 
extending for miles is a held that yieldej 
line iron ores. Some of the ii-on plants 
at Pueblo and Denver use these ores, so 
I am info]-med, IMuch of this ore is used 
for tluxing certain ores. 
The finest g-ranite abounds in many 
ditferent parts of Colorado. 
The most beautiful 1 saw was in Platte 
canon about fifty miles west of Denver. 
Some of this is a beautiful fiesh color. 
I would want no finer monument over 
my grave than a block of this granite. 
There is much water power — little of 
which is utilized — in various parts of 
Colorado. On the upper Arkansas river 
alone there might be developed, in 
seventy-five miles, several thousand iioi'se 
powxn-. 
I can not stop to speak of the agri- 
cultural resources and scores of other 
items, of lesser importance, among 
which are fine clays, mineral ]iaints, 
sand, gravel, artesian water, hot springs, 
mineral waters, etc., etc. 
Now, 'I few words on New Mexico, 
the sunny ''American Italy." For an 
all-the-ycar-round climate. New Mexico 
certainly easily leade ail^ other Ameri- 
can country, I ha v^e no interests n(«r 
friends in the territory and hope I speak 
without prejudice or partiality. 
The mi)ieral resurces of New Mexico 
are certainly as grert as that of any 
other country, but they are. with the ex- 
ception of a few localities, undeveloped. 
Timber is not so abundant in New 
Mexico as it is in Colorado, but many 
forests abound, and wood for fuel and 
mining purposes is usually plentiful. 
There is an undetermined coal field in 
tlie Ratton Mountains in the northern 
part of the territory that is a continuation 
of the Eastern Colorado field. I say un- 
